An Accidental Happenstance
by princessofthescoundrels
Summary: Alice and Frank set up Molly and Arthur to meet in the Charms room. Naturally, it's an instant connection. Hogwarts age Molly/Arthur fluffy oneshot.


At one time Molly Prewett didn't look quite so matronly, and Arthur Weasley had a full, or granted almost full, head of hair. Both Gryffindors, they had a certain fondness for similar things, yet they hardly ever ran into the other. It was the kind of relationship where, if they passed by the other in the corridors, eye contact may be established but talking was out of the question. A true meeting had not happened yet, a close call by a few minutes at the lake, their Transfiguration classes only a period apart. After all, Hogwarts is a big castle.

There was, after all, only so long before two people with mutual friends and similar flaming red hair could go on without meeting before said friends took matters into their own hands. So, one Tuesday afternoon in Molly and Arthur's fifth year precisely at 4:15 in the afternoon, Molly was searching the Charms room for her textbook that had conveniently gone missing, and Arthur was scraping Drooble's Best Blowing Gum off the underside of desks as punishment for a spell he didn't utter himself.

"Excuse me? Have you seen a book?" Molly asked impatiently. Full bodied but not heavy, her school robes were tight on her body to the point of distraction. She was suffering from the beginning of the school weight gain as result from too many Hogwarts feasts, but the extra poundage suited her.

Arthur was not exactly upright to view this distraction, as his head and torso was covered by the body of the wooden desk.

"Oof!" Arthur cried out in pain as his head bumped on the bottom of the desk, startled by the intrusion and in the process getting gum stick in whatever hair he had.

He clambered out from beneath the confounded thing, and pried gum from his head while doing so. When he was fully standing, he stared down into the strong facer of Molly for the first real time since Potions class second year.

"Sorry, what was that? Em…" Arthur trailed off, only just realizing that now he had gum on his fingers and scowled.

"Molly. Molly…"

"Yes, Molly, right. Sorry, I do remember. Potions class, was it?" He finally got the gum off his hand and held the same one out to shake, which Molly ignored for hygienic purposes.

"Yes, yes, I remember it well. Listen, have you found a Charms book? I think Alice stole it but I can't be sure."

"Alice? She would never!" Arthur laughed nervously, forgetting about the gum on his head and running a hand out of habit through his hair, getting more gum stuck on it in the process. "Bloody hell!"

"Oh, let me help you with that! My goodness, of all the ridiculous things…" trailing off, she fiddled around in her robes for her wand. Whispering the spell, she pointed the tip at his head as far as she could reach.

"Well, thanks I… Wait, I think you missed a spot!" Arthur laughed after checking his head for anything left over.

"Oh let me see, bend down!" When Molly saw she's only gotten the very front, leaving a whole two- thirds of his head still covered in bubblegum, she laughed. The impatient scowl that covered her face melted, making way for a brilliant smile. "Goodness me, I guess I'm too short!"

"I guess you are!" Arthur laughed too, glancing up at her from over his glasses.

"I'd better get the rest of that for you," Molly giggled, raising her wand again to do away with anything left.

Arthur stood up when she was finished, running the hand that was not covered in gum through his locks. "Pretty good! Hey, while you're at it, could you get the stuff off my hand?"

Molly nodded, casting her eyes down as her hand that was not holding her wand reached for his. Holding it steady, she pointed her wand at it, and the gum disappeared. When she looked up, Arthur's face was an interesting shade of crimson.

He ran his hand through his hair again, chuckling nervously. Molly smiled gently, getting a little embarrassed herself.

"So, em, why don't you have a wand?" Molly asked, breaking the silence.

"Frank Longbottom cast a spell while the professor was talking directly behind me and the bloke thought it was me. Frank didn't speak up as a joke, and here I am. Forced to scrape gum off desks without magic. Apparently I'll get my wand back at the end of detention, but everyone knows the professor, it'll be lucky if he remembers to put on his pants!"

"Alice was telling me she wanted me to meet one of Frank's friends, are you him?"

Arthur shrugged, embarrassed. "If the friend was tall with stringy red hair, then yeah. That's me."

Molly sneered, cocking her hip out. "Then it seems we've both been set up."

"Oh! You were looking for a book, yes?"

Molly waved her hand. "Just my Charms textbook, if you've seen it around then great, if you haven't I have a feeling Alice is holding onto it and making up some ridiculous story right now."

Arthur bit his lip, thinking, and then shook his head. "I haven't seen a textbook, sorry."

"When will you finish up?"

Arthur shrugged again, adjusting his glasses on his nose. "Whenever all the gum is off. I've been at it for hours but only a few desks are finished."

"I can help you, if you'd like," Molly offered, waving her wand and shooting orange sparks playfully.

"Sorry, no magic. You'd be stuck here forever!" Arthur laughed uncomfortably again, looking wistfully at her wand.

"He said you couldn't use magic, he never said I couldn't. Do you have your Charms textbook with you?" Molly had a sly gleam in her eye and Arthur arched a brow, impressed.

"Yeah, it's in my bag over there."

"We're in the same year, so we have the same homework. I'll help you get this done in five minutes, then we can do homework together. I bet you're hungry too, I have food."

On cue, Arthur's stomach grumbled loudly. "Guilty!" This time his laughter was genuine and he felt himself loosing up. "Why are you doing this?"

"Well, I'll need help getting Alice and Frank together, won't I? As payback of course."

"Minx!"

"Please, as if you haven't seen those looks they give each other. Let's get this done fast, yeah?" Molly raised her wand, and said, very clearly. "Wingardium Leviosa!" All the chairs and desks flew up into the air, and Molly jabbed her wand so they would all flip around. With that, she guided them carefully back onto the ground and used her cleaning spell on each of the articles that needed cleaning. After flipping them around again, she looked back at Arthur with a smug grin on her face to find his mouth gaping and glasses attractively tilted.

Adjusting them quickly, he coughed. "I can never get that spell right."

"What, Wingardium Leviosa? Why, that's first year magic!"

Chuckling, Arthur surveyed the room, looking impressed. "Well, I can't do fifth year magic very well either."

Molly pursed her lips. "Arthur, it's a good thing we met when we did! I have a lot to teach you before your detention is up!"

'You already have,' Arthur thought to himself, humming happily as he pulled a quill and his Charms book from his bag, thinking up a delightful revenge for his blessed friend Frank.


End file.
